Suggestions by AICEIA on Draft Transfer Policy

All India Central Excise Inspectors Association

F.No.  AICIEA/CBEC/141/2011                                       Dated: 27.07.2011

To

Ms. Sandhya Baliga

The Director General (HRD),CBEC,

Drum Shape Building, I.P.Bhawan,

New Delhi-110002.

Respected  Madam,        

Sub:- Revised Transfer/ Placement Guidelines for Group B Gazetted and  Non- Gazetted Executive Officers (posted to Central Excise & Service Taxformations) – Comments/Suggestions of the AICEIA

The DGHRD has circulated a draft policy on the above subject on which the Chief Commissioners of various Zones have invited comments from the regional formations of the National level Recognised Staff Associations, coming under their jurisdictions . Unfortunately we have not yet been served with an official copy of the subject draft guidelines. However, this Association appreciates this initiative for formulating posting and transfer guidelines which has been a long pending demand of our Association.

         

Chairman, CBEC vide his DO letter 11-7-1997 and the Board vide  Instructions issued under DOF No. A-22015/27/96-Ad.III dt.24-6-1996, DOF No. A.22015/30/2001-Ad.III dt.17-4-2011, and F.No. C-18013/93/99-AD.III-B, dt. 20-1-2000 has categorically and unambiguously stated that while framing any transfer policy at local level, the views of the Associations should be called for and the Transfer Policy should be finalized after taking into account the same and on the basis of regional, geographical and local conditions. We find that this crucial condition is a glaring omission in the DTP Policy circulated now, and needs to be included with due prominence.

A no. of Zones has well defined Transfer Policies issued by the Zonal Chief Commissioners in consultation with the Cadre Associations. They have been implemented in letter and spirit, and include most of the points mentioned in the proposed draft transfer and placement guidelines.

Human Resource Management is crucial for success of any organization .The average age of Inspector & Superintendent is approx. 40 & 50 years, respectively. Majority of the Inspectors are retiring with only one promotion in their entire service life. It is against this backdrop that at the outset we request to incorporate the following points in the revised Policy:

·         As far as possible Officers should be posted to stations nearest to their home-towns or places where their families are located.

·         In the case of lady officers, transfer should not be effected away from their home town or locations of their families unless they represent for the same.

·         An identical clause should also be made applicable for the officers who have crossed 55 years of age.

·         President and Secretary of the Associations should be posted at the respective Headquarters (and preferably assigned non-sensitive formations).

·         Keeping in mind the academic session A.G.T’s should invariably be issued on or before 31^st March and all affected officers should get relieved by 30th April every year.

Further, point wise suggestions and disagreements of this Association on the proposed posting and transfer guidelines are as under:

1.    While we accept the proposed periodicity of issuing transfer orders, we insist that any order of transfer that may be issued within the academic year should not have an effect of change of station, unless requested for by the officer.

2.    C.(i) Inter-zonal/Intra-zonal rotation policy shall be formulated only after discussions with the respective recognised staff Associations.

3.    C (v) Once the guidelines are formulated and published after discussions with the staff association, any deviation from the norms shall be made only after discussions with the staff Associations, and recording specific reasons for each deviation. In case of such transfers rationale behind the deviation should be recorded on the note sheet.

4.    D There should be common parameters for identifying sensitive and non-sensitive formations and it should not be at the sole discretion of the Commissioner or Chief Commissioner concerned. Interface with the trade should be the most important, if not only criteria for classification of so called  Sensitive and Non-sensitive post. Hence we submit that

·         The Vigilance sections of Commissionerate /Divisional headquarters and the Chief Commissioner’s office do not have any interface with trade, and since there is no public dealing involved, and no discretionary responsibilities are entrusted with them in such postings, they should be treated on par with other Non-sensitive postings.

·         Similarly, there are many Divisions which have no Rebate/Refund Cases on regular basis. In such a situation the Chief Commissioner after consulting the Association  may decide whether the postings are to be treated as sensitive or non-sensitive, as per point 4 of enclosure-A.

·         Ranges which deal exclusively or predominantly with Public Sector Enterprises or other Government concerns should be considered non- sensitive postings, as in these places officers concerned deal almost entirely with government and the same cannot, in any manner, be equated with interaction with the public.

5.  E. (i) "However, in case where sufficient number of officers is not available due to administrative / vigilance reasons for posting to sensitive charges, officers can be rotated from one sensitive charge to another sensitive charge". This proposal will create problems since it gives ample scope for undoing the formulated norms. We insist for proper recording of sufficient reasons in each such instance, and for the sake of transparency, the recorded reasons should be finalized in consultation with the cadre Associations.

     

6. Para E(vii) states the first posting of the officers coming on an Inter-Commissionerate Transfer, within a Zone, should be, as far as administratively possible, to a non-sensitive charge. This condition defeats the very purpose of rotation of officers between sensitive and non-sensitive postings after certain periodicity. For instance, one officer who has completed his prescribed tenure of non-sensitive posting in one Commissionerate and is due for sensitive posting and is transferred to another Commissionerate on ICT transfer within a Zone, if he is posted to non-sensitive posting based on this condition, he will be deprived of his sensitive posting in the new Commissionerate. As such, this condition has no meaning and relevance and will create heartburn and problems in the rotation of the officers, and should be done away with summarily.

7. There should not be any limitation on the  period of stay in stations where Commissioner's/ Chief Commissioner's offices, Law, Vigilance, Statistical Section, Adjudication, Tribunal and Computer Cell is situated unless the Officers represent for a shift / transfer. This will give more and all-round exposure to the officers thereby improving the efficiency of the system.

8. F. In the cities where there are multiple Commissionerates there should not be any fixed station tenure, minimum tenure as suggested by draft transfer policy is two ( 2) years is welcome but, there should not be any maximum tenure for a particular station where there are multiple Commissionerates.

9. G. Except in those cases mentioned in F, the period of stay in a Commissionerate should not be fixed, and minimum tenure should continue as two years, if the affected officer does not represent for an earlier shift.

10. There should not be any Commissionerate tenure and mandatory ICT except where there are multiple Commissionerates in one station. Otherwise it should continue to be four years as given in previous Circular F.No.A-35017/28/92-AD-III-B dated 30.06.1994. At any given time officer may opt for out of station transfer after a period of one year on valid grounds. Audit posting as per the guidelines of the Audit Manual should be of three (3) years.

11. There should not be any station tenure for any officer whose children/spouse/parent are physically/ mentally challenged/ retarded or patient of Cancer/ hemophilia/ thaleshemeia/ neurological or any blood related diseases or any other non curable chronic diseases. The scope of O.M. no. AB 14017/41/90-Estt. (RR), New Delhi dated 15^th February 1991 issued by D.O.P&T should be extended to the above mentioned cases.

12. Officers should be frequently rotated after every four years from Central Excise to Service Tax (if it is in the same station) but for transfer to Customs from Central excise there should be a well-established practice of calling for options and selection should be made from fresh and never served officers first, and postings should  be decided accordingly then depending upon the length of tenure in non sensitive formations the other officers should get their chance as per seniority.

13. Para Q-  While lauding this avowed objective, it can be surmised from this DTP Policy that the Board wittingly or unwittingly is trying to empower the local Chief Commissioners to formulate a local Zonal Transfer Policy without following the tenets of fairplay and transparency since in para Q (ii) of the DTP it is mentioned that the Chief Commissioners have the discretion to deviate from the transfer guidelines, subject to recording the  reasons for deviation in file. This empowerment will entitle the CCs to formulate their own transfer policy discriminately for exercising discretionary powers under colourable perceptions and without taking into account the local and regional factors. Once these guidelines are issued, the CCs should frame the local Transfer Policies which should be in consonance and consistent with these guidelines and no discretion to deviate from these guidelines should be bestowed on CCs.

It should be ensured that any deviation from the formulated and published transfer policy shall be made only after discussions with the concerned staff association.  We would like to mention here that the Hyderabad Bench of CAT, in its order OA No.587,588,726 &755 of 2007 dated 20.11.07 has held, inter-alia, that the delegation of the power to the Chief Commissioner  for  formulation of transfer posting policy is subject to the condition that there is due consultation  with the Association concerned.

                                                    

                 Yours faithfully

Sd/-

         (Kousik Roy)

              Secretary General

Copy forwarded to Sri Jayant Mishra, Additional Director General,HRD (HRM wing), Customs & Central Excise,507/8 Deep Sikha Building, Rajendra Place, New Delhi for perusal and necessary action.